The development of a self-supporting, freestanding tooth-root replacement would certainly have great impact on the dental public health. The vitreous carbon tooth-root implant (Vitredent R) with demonstrated biocompatibility holds great promise in the dental implant field, especially if the biofunctional aspects of this implant parallel its biocompatibility. That is, it must be determined that the implant is able to absorb functional stress as a freestanding tooth without causing progressive supporting bone loss, which then results in implant mobilization and destruction of the remaining alveolar structure. In this study 48 vitreous carbon implants have been inserted in the second premolar fresh extraction sockets of 12 male Papio anubis baboons. They were splinted and placed in functional occlusion two weeks later. After 12 weeks, one-half of the splints were removed and these implants left freestanding. The remaining contralateral implants were left splinted, and the splints removed bimonthly only for clinical comparison with their freestanding counterparts. It is anticipated that the results of this study will determine the efficacy of vitreous carbon as a self-supporting replacement for missing teeth. During the forthcoming period, a study to place implants in healed edentulous areas will be conducted in which the implants will both protrude and remain buried after insertion. This will be done in order to clarify which technique is most beneficial to long-term implant stability. This grant will generate experimental information for the evaluation of the status of the vitreous carbon implant, for the evaluation of the baboon as an animal model for dental implants, and for the evaluation of surgical and restorative techniques used in dental implants.